Chocolate Marbled Cheesecake

It’s been a week of indulgence and I admit that I did little to resist. The food, the wine, the conversations….I gave myself fully to it all (I don’t know any other way). I even started this week with some succulent Brazilian barbecue washed down with deliciously potent Caipirinhas at a dear friend’s poolside.

My contribution to this meal was a simple Chocolate Marbled Cheesecake. I’m no cheesecake expert so understandably, I was a teensy bit nervous (although my no-bake cheesecakes generally turn out fine), but this recipe which I found onjoyofbaking.com didn’t let me down despite my tweaks. The biggest appeal of this recipe is that it uses a mix of ricotta and cream cheese, which cuts down some of the fat right away yet gives you an equally velvety and a lighter cheesecake.

The original recipe is a plain vanilla cheesecake served with a cran-raspberry sauce but I chose to add melted chocolate since I didn’t have raspberries. I also added another 100g of biscuits, left out the sugar from the crust and swapped Graham crackers for oat digestives. My cheesecake took about 50 minutes whereas the recipe mentioned 1 hour-1 hour 15 minutes. So I suggest you watch this cake closely because time may vary depending on the size and heat levels of your oven. I began at 180 degrees C but after 40 mins turned it down to 150 because the top had begun browning. I cooled it in the tin for a few hours and then chilled it in the fridge overnight. It un-moulded perfectly and tasted just divine (even if I say so myself).

Chocolate Marbled Cheesecake

An airy, low-calorie ricotta cheesecake with a swirl of chocolate

Servings 6

Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 48 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

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Ingredients

  

For the crust

• 100 g digestive biscuits
• 60 g butter

For the filling

• 600 g fresh whole milk ricotta drained overnight
• 300 g whole milk cream cheese
• 4 large eggs
• 200 g sugar
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 11/2 tsps vanilla extract
• 90 g dark chocolate chopped
• 2-3 tbsps single cream

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C, grease a 9 inch (23 cm) springform pan and cover the exterior with 2-3 layers of aluminium foil to ensure no water gets in.
• Melt the butter, mix thoroughly with crushed biscuits and press evenly to cover the bottom of the pan. Chill while preparing the filling.
• Ensure that all the filling ingredients are at room temperature before you begin. Using an electric beater or food processor, beat the cream cheese till smooth and free of lumps (3-4 minutes).
• Then beat in the ricotta and sugar till well blended and smooth, followed by the cornflour.
• Now beat in the eggs one at a time, and finally the vanilla extract.
• Melt the chocolate gently in a double boiler adding cream as required to loosen the melted chocolate to a thick pouring consistency. Cool chocolate to room temperature.
• Pour the filling into the prepared springform pan and using a tablespoon, gently pour the chocolate in concentric circles starting from the outer side. Then use a this knife to draw straight lines from the centre of the innermost circle to the outermost to create a marbling pattern or just makes waves resembling swirls of chocolate and white filling.

Notes

Total time does not include time to chill the cheesecake.

Adapted from www.joyofbaking.com

Author: Quiche ‘n’ Tell